http://www.11alive.com/news/cr...-for-house/455824292

Homeowner struggles to kick out strangers from her home

MARIETTA, Ga. – What if you came home and someone else was living in your house? That’s what happened to the Dena Everman. And she can’t get them out.

But the dwellers say there are two sides to every story.

“I’m extremely frustrated right that someone that has no legal right to be in my home is staying in my home and I’m the one that has to prove that they don’t belong there,” Everman said.

After 11 years of living in the house on Condor Drive in Marietta, Ga., Everman was in the process of selling her home. She was supposed to close the sale on June 26. But the day before, Everman walked into a surprise.

“I went by the home on June 25 to say, ‘goodbye,’ to my home. When I drove up, there was a different car in the driveway and it looked like somebody was in my home.”

She had no idea who they were. She never gave them permission to be in there—but there they were.

The new residents were Tamera Pritchett, her fiancé and two children.

And it was a pretty big shock to her as well.

“Next thing we know, we’re being thrown out at 11:30 at night with two children,” Pritchett said.

Everman said the way she sees it, someone broke into her home and were living there without her permission. But, Pritchett said, it’s not so cut and dry.

“It’s just embarrassing to have to go through this,” Pritchett, who said she found the property listed for rent on Craigslist, said.

But after signing e-documents and wiring money to someone, whom they believed to be the owner, they received keys to the home, and moved in.

“We’re not squatters. We have documents. We have keys,” said the mother of two.

Everman, however, isn’t budging.

“I own this home and I did not give these people permission to be in there. They have a false document.”

Cobb County Police are investigating the situation. In fact, officers have responded to the home multiple times since June 25, but haven't been able to kick Pritchett's family out of the house.

“At this point, I’m the legal owner of the property and I shouldn’t have to expend this energy to get someone out that I did not give permission to be in my home,” Everman said. “The police officers… decided it wasn’t breaking-and-entering at that point even though there was a broken window and changed locks and I had the deeds to my home and proof that it was my home.”

All that Pritchett said she wants is time to move.

“At the end of the day, yes, we got scammed. We understand that. We understand this is your home. But why can’t we be adults and try to figure this out and go after this person that scammed us and is obviously out here scamming your name and your home,” she said defending herself against claims that she is a squatter.

Under Georgia law, “squatters have the right to take possession of this property if they occupy it without permission for a specific period of time.”

According to Pritchett, the scammer, whom she paid $3,000 to, told her that he is in Garland, Texas, and owned the house with Everman. Pritchett said that she and her family had been in the house for two weeks when Everman showed up.

“They tried to unlawfully throw us out by legally evicting us,” Pritchett said, who went on to say that Everman knew about the scam and still sold her house.

“I hope this shows everyone that this can happen to anybody,” Pritchett cautioned. “I’m hoping this shows people that you can’t trust everything over the Internet.”

Currently, both sides are working with their attorneys to figure out next steps. And while the Pritchett family said they will move out—it’s not fast enough for Everman.

And the family who did purchase the home from Everman can’t move in, have their belongings in storage and have to stay with friends and family because they are “homeless.”

“At this point, I’m the legal owner of the property and I shouldn’t have to expend this energy to get someone out that I did not give permission to be in my home,” Everman said.

The fight to get the family out has been going on for two weeks and counting.

“I’ve dealt with people harassing me. Threatening me and my family like we’re not the victim. At the end of the day, both sides were victimized by the situation,” Pritchett said.

That is seriously screwed up. I would like to think that this would only take 30 days around here. The court actually needs to address it as two issues. The actual owner, who is evicting the squatters, and the squatters who may or may not have been scammed out of $3k.

And I am sure that once the squatters are legally removed,the legal homeowner will be very relieved at the immaculate condition the property was left in.

I feel sorry for the homeowner.

It took nearly six months to run an unlawful detainer, get a judgment for possession, file relief from stay in bankruptcy court, deliver the judgment to the Sheriff and wait until they could get around to delivering possession, last time I did one in Whackyland.

$60,000 later, the place was habitable once more.

The tenant here has no right to possession whatsoever. Think of it as buying stolen property. When an owner enters into a lease or rental arrangement, he is transferring the right to possess under limited terms to someone else. This "tenant" got the rights from someone who had none, appearances notwithstanding.

Squatting is essentially adverse possession, usually 5 years exclusive possession.

I was involved in several cases where a tenant, in lawful possession, forged a deed, then took out a loan or loans against the property. Guess what? Those deeds of trust are no good, the lender loses. That's one reason for title insurance.

Burn it to the ground

So, if I buy the Brooklyn Bridge on Craiglist, I can reap tolls until they prove I don't really own it?

The scam isn't all that uncommon but usually doesn't get this far.
My wife is a realtor and has received a few phone calls from people that drove by a house she had listed because of this type of rental scam. The scammers find a unoccupied house for sale then cut and paste photos and descriptions with a very low price for a rental. The scam is just to get to money from the potential renter.
When this happens, you need to post a few notices at the entrance doors advising any lookers that it's a scam and the house is only for sale.

$3k?
So, what? $1500 deposit and $1500 1st months rent?

That house worth that much in Marietta as a rental? Damn.

Found the home listed on Craig's list? Thinks they have legal documents? Paid $3K to someone they never saw? Got keys? Window was broken? They've been battling with the real owner for two weeks and still need time to get out?

Yeah, [sarcasm] I feel really sympathetic [/sarcasm] for these folks.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Burn it to the ground

Tempting but burning your own home is still arson and I heard jail sucks. Maybe some really big guys with baseball bats in the middle of the night?

quote:

Originally posted by PD:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Burn it to the ground

Tempting but burning your own home is still arson and I heard jail sucks

Only if you file an insurance claim. At least in Kentucky. Around here you are free to do with your property as you wish. Sorta like when when a husband and wife aren't getting along. She locks him out, he breaks a window to get back in. She wants him arrested for burglary, property damage, etc. Cops can do nothing because it is his window to break out in the first place. She then complains that the cops won't do their jobs, by not arresting him for breaking his own stuff, etc.

A mortgage holder might see that differently.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
A mortgage holder might see that differently.

They may, but it is still a civil matter, not criminal.

quote:

“They tried to unlawfully throw us out by legally evicting us,” Pritchett said

Da fuq? If they tried to legally evict you, then they're not really unlawfully throwing you out, right?

But no, clearly, they're stupid. I mean, who falls for this shit? There's no face-to-face contact with anyone? Just some Rando Calrissian claiming he owns the property and you should send him money so you can use it? How many Nigerian princes have your bank info? How many international lotteries have you won, where you have no recollection of ever entering?

Listen, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There's probably dismembered hooker corpses in the garden, or it used to be a meth lab, or it's a scam. Dig a little deeper before you start mailing money off.

What squatters? I haven't seen any squatters. Oh, that disturbed dirt? I've just been doing some gardening.

Big problem here in Florida, particularly during the recession when there were a bunch of foreclosures going on. Takes a minimum of 30 days to get someone out here, and that's only if you do everything by the book and don't screw up.

Florida landlord-tenant law is heavily biased toward the tenant, and this has spilled over even where the tenant is a fraud.

quote:

Originally posted by airsoft guy:
Just some Rando Calrissian

"Rando Calrissian"

Stolen.

This isn't a new twist. It, and things very similar to it, have been going on for years.

If "our" government were doing its job, instead of a raft of jobs it shouldn't be doing, this kind of thing would be much more rare--if not impossible.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
This isn't a new twist. It, and things very similar to it, have been going on for years.

If "our" government were doing its job, instead of a raft of jobs it shouldn't be doing, this kind of thing would be much more rare--if not impossible.

What government function would it be doing to stop or minimize this?

Crooks seem more common place these days, more brazen. There have always been sharp operators, of course, always been vacant houses, etc.

Maybe we used to feel freer to take crook like this and "self help" him into sinning no more.

quote:

What government function would it be doing to stop or minimize this?

There's a couple of things that Gvt. could do in these cases. First, they could have an expedited eviction proceeding for fraud cases, even where the tenant is theoretically innocent. Second, they could use some of their resources to come down on the fraudsters who collect the check to make the scams less appealing. In one Florida jurisdiction I am aware of, the threshold for significant police investigation is $20k. Since this stuff flies under that radar, nothing is done to the criminals who set up the scam.

The way the system works right now is that the most innocent person, that being the unaware homeowner bears the largest penalty in the scam. The tenant who should have known better, and who sometimes is the actual scammer usually gets a couple months free lodging and then leaves without penalty.

The law should protect the property owner first, the tenant (depending on their degree of culpablity, second) and it should seek to burn the scammers at the stake.